I’m a feminist, which means I understand that patriarchy circumscribes all relationships in our culture, and I tend to sympathize with women because of systemic and structural sexism. That’s a given. I’m also a white woman who grew up in the 1960s and 70s in a middle-income, suburban Philadelphia household where gender roles were fairly stereotypical: dad as a provider and protector, mom as the go-to day-to-day parent. I didn’t know my father as a nurturer. He claimed that the only emotion he allowed himself to feel was anger because that was one feeling he couldn’t control, and the others would make him soft.

Be Strong Families is pleased to announce that our new Recovering Together Cafés and the accompanying conversation deck are completed and ready to be deployed to support people on their journey to recovery. Combining the expertise of NET and Greater Tilton in the content area of addiction and recovery with Be Strong Families’ expertise in developing and sustaining meaningful conversations provided the opportunity for a collaboration that aims to have a significant impact on the journey to recovery.

We’ve been struggling to know what statement Be Strong Families should make in response to events of the past week. We called an impromptu meeting yesterday at 5 pm Central for our staff and our consultants to check in with each other, to remind us of resources available to assist with processing what’s going on as part of our EAP program, and to try to co-create a Be Strong Families public statement. We were on for two hours, listening, witnessing, acknowledging, appreciating, and supporting each other. We encourage other organizations to do the same.

So much is changing as we as a nation react and adapt to the COVID-19 quarantine. One major shift has occurred in education. Schools from elementary to post-secondary have closed their doors. Young children are learning from home. Parents are now tasked with facilitating their children’s education in all subjects, at all grade levels. Teachers and administrators are having to acclimate to an online curriculum, and to less interaction with their students.

…Now, that humming has grown faint and more of us are hearing societal questions that demand answers. As Be Strong Families thought about how to act, we realized that what we do best—develop transformative conversations that nurture the spirit of family, promote wellbeing and prevent violence could be an important contribution. By doing this, we could allow people to experience the emotional safety needed to share their feelings, gain support from each other, and brainstorm strategies and solutions to keep their families safe and strong…

What are Family Resource Centers (FRCs) doing during the COVID-19 pandemic? It’s a question I’ve been asked often over the past month, and it’s one that has a very simple answer: continuing to support and strengthen families – as always. “That’s not a good answer,” said a respected colleague who directs another national organization. “If you say that, people won’t realize all that they’re doing or how they’ve pivoted.”

Sheltering at home and social isolation has been difficult for me. COVID-19 has brought about myriad lifestyle adaptations I’ve had to make over the past month. While acknowledging the plight of others may be more acute than the experience I’ve endured, I can only speak from my own experience. Some of the lifestyle changes I’ve endured are physical isolation from friends and family, wiping down my groceries with Lysol when I get home, and not having access to a gym.

Social distancing has created a void in my day. I miss the energy that people, and crowds bring into my life. I have tried a range of different social media platforms to connect with people—Duo, Zoom, Facebook Messenger, and FaceTime. While these have certainly helped, I still have a yearning for more. Each day I try to fill this void with a home improvement task, or even work, but my energy level is still low. It feels like the scene in Superman, when he first faces the green colored crystal that absorbs his energy. That substance is Kryptonite.